Chapter 61: Chapter 61: I wonder if my lady is willing to share a seat and pillow with me tonight?
Joseph hastened to the southern wing of the Palace of Versailles, ascended to the second floor, and after navigating a long, narrow corridor, finally located the room indicated on the note.
He tried pushing on the door and found it unlocked, so he simply pushed it open and entered.
“You’ve arrived?” a lazy female voice drifted from what seemed to be the direction of the bedroom, “Please close the door.”
Joseph closed the door behind him, leaving a small gap, then walked towards the source of the voice.
Upon turning into the bedroom doorway, he was greeted by a room bathed in the ambiguous pink light. Sprawled on the large white sofa in the center, lay a woman who was close to thirty, or perhaps slightly younger.
She was clad in a grey scholar’s robe left open, covered with a semi-transparent veil, her skin pale, her hair fluffy, and her ample chest partially visible below her nearly falling clothes, yet in the dim candlelight, nothing was clearly discernible.
Propping her cheek with her right hand, her eyes intoxicated with allure, she languidly gazed at Joseph and, raising her left hand, beckoned him with her index finger, coyly saying with laughter in her voice, “Don’t just stand there, come here!”
Joseph slightly furrowed his brows in confusion and raised the note in his hand, “Madam, may I ask if you wrote this?”
“Yes~” the woman’s voice oozed sticky sweetness.
Outside the room, the “little fairy” who had stealthily followed Joseph all the way to the doorway wiped sweat from her forehead after lifting her mask, revealing herself to be the Duke of Orleans’ eldest son—Duke of Chartres, Louis Philippe.
He peeked through the gap in the door, the pink candlelight flickering inside. On tiptoe, he slipped into the room and, from the angle just past the bedroom door, caught sight of Lady Sangbellon, full of endless temptation, and the back of the Crown Prince.
His heart began to race as he instantly grasped the situation—a rendezvous between the Crown Prince and a supreme temptress like Lady Sangbellon. No wonder he had shown little interest in the ladies at the ball, leaving twice, all for secret meetings with her!
Worried about being discovered, he hurriedly tiptoed back out.
In the room, Joseph looked at Lady Sangbellon and asked, “What secret do you actually know?”
The woman curled her finger again and, with a voice as soft as cream, said, “Why aren’t you coming over? I want to whisper it in your ear.”
Joseph frowned once more, sensing that something was amiss. After thinking it through, he decided to verify his suspicion by uttering the immutable code phrase, “Is the unique unchanged?”
Lady Sangbellon blinked in surprise, “?”
To be safe, Joseph asked another question, “Which do you prefer, Brother Chicken or Queen Ka?”
“??”
“What is E=MC squared?”
“???”
Joseph’s brow furrowed even tighter, “I have other matters to attend to—if you do not reveal the so-called secret, I will leave.”
“Don’t go!” Lady Sangbellon adjusted her posture, sitting up a bit more and teasingly tilting her head, “I guess… your secret is… you’ve never been with anyone, right?”
Joseph let out a sigh; it appeared he had gotten excited for nothing, as the whole scene was apparently orchestrated solely to seduce him, and it was indeed done with great effort.
He shook his head, turned around, and left for the door without hesitation. Not only was this older lady not his type, but given his slender frame and being at such a critical phase of puberty, he definitely couldn’t let this affect his growth.
“You… don’t go…” Lady Sangbellon hurriedly pulled her robe down a bit more, but all she heard was the “bang” of the door closing behind him.
She was on the verge of questioning her existence, looking down at her body, which seemed flawless. This should be irresistible to any man, a fact she had verified countless times. Yet the Crown Prince had just asked a few questions about “Brother Chicken” and “MC” before leaving so abruptly!
He had left!!
She had no idea that her seduction techniques, although absolutely top-notch at the moment, were nothing compared to what Joseph had experienced in the action-packed blockbusters from the future Fusang Country. How could such scenes even be enough to cloud his mind and make him lose his reason?
After Joseph had walked away, the Duke of Chartres stepped out from behind a pillar, frowned as he made some calculations, and couldn’t help but reveal a mocking smile, “Hmph, is the Crown Prince done just like that? He spent what, at most three minutes inside? Such a waste.”
Just as he was about to leave, Lady Sangbellon’s tempting figure suddenly appeared in front of him, prompting him to swallow hard.
If the Crown Prince was that quick, how could he possibly have satisfied Lady Sangbellon? With this thought, a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
Why not, I’ll go show her what a real man is like!
The more he thought about it, the more pleased with himself he became, certain that after experiencing his “endless prowess,” Lady Sangbellon would surely be thoroughly disappointed in the Crown Prince, and might even dump him.
Joseph, I’ll let you taste the bitterness of losing a lover! He sneered coldly and strode through the door into the room.
He was confident that Lady Sangbellon wouldn’t refuse him; before the Crown Prince had come into prominence, he was the target of enthusiastic pursuit by the young ladies of the Palace of Versailles!
In the room, Lady Sangbellon was still doubting herself when she heard footsteps and immediately felt a surge of joy.
Hmph, the Crown Prince still plays his games, doesn’t he? But here he comes back again, obediently.
She let out a light hum that could melt bones, ready to greet the Crown Prince but was surprised to find the Duke of Chartres instead.
She instinctively pulled up the gauze blanket, “You? What brings you here?”
The Duke of Chartres, already flushed with excitement by everything around him, immediately stepped forward and grabbed her hand, breathing heavily with urgency, “Lady Sangbellon, you are like the twinkling stars in the sky, deeply captivating my eyes. And like the oak tree in the courtyard, you have taken deep root in my heart…”
With her wealth of experience, Lady Sangbellon knew exactly what was on the mind of this young man just two sentences in.
She couldn’t help but think of the Duke of Orleans’ immense wealth, realizing that getting involved with his son might be a good choice as well, and it could also mend the cracks in her self-confidence caused by the Crown Prince.
She gently caressed the young man’s hair and giggled, “Is that so? Then prove it to me…”
In the room, light veils flew, the crescent moon stirred into the clouds, breaking up the watery night sky.
After a while, the Duke of Chartres walked out of the room, rubbing his lower back with lingering satisfaction, took out his pocket watch, and revealed an extremely proud expression, “44 minutes! Humph, how can that good-for-nothing Joseph compare to me?
“After a few more visits to Lady Sangbellon, she will surely lose interest in Joseph!”
…
In a resting room next to the Hall of Mirrors, Joseph had already changed out of the black gown from the ball and into his everyday attire, while Lady Vilar sat respectfully across from him in a simple yet dignified dress.
“You’re talking about that young man from the Dawu family?” she asked with some surprise, “You know him?”
“Yes,” Joseph replied with a smile and a nod, “In fact, I have quite a good relationship with the Dawu family.”
Lady Vilar nodded thoughtfully, not having expected the seemingly insignificant Dawu family to have connections to the Crown Prince.
Joseph continued, “I asked you here to talk about Lieutenant Dawu and the future of the Vilar family.”
…
Half an hour later, Lady Vilar walked out of the resting room, took a deep breath as if having made up her mind, and nodded firmly.